


the water sweeps over my feet

by Arrowsbane



Series: floating in a turquoise sea [4]
Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Guang-hong has a rainbow tail, Guang-hong is adorable, Leo is a marine biologist, SAVE THE WHALES, Save the Dolphins, Save the goddamn Ocean, and an activist, yes thats a pun
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-26
Updated: 2016-12-26
Packaged: 2018-09-12 04:20:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 987
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9055036
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arrowsbane/pseuds/Arrowsbane
Summary: Guang-Hong is marked as different from the moment he first comes into the world, his tail practically screaming ‘Look at me, I’m special.’It’s his biggest regret.[Now available in Russian, thanks to audreydarcie.]





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Alasya](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alasya/gifts).



Under the surface of the ocean, the world is a different place. Almost Alien. What lies beneath it is a mystery that has ensnared the minds of humans for an age.

And the world is covered in water.

Leo loves the Ocean. How could he not? And yet people pour polluted garbage into it every day, uncaring of the wonder they are systematically destroying. Of how many lives they ruin or cut short with something as simple and tiny as the yoke from a six-pack.

Is it any surprise that he takes up the fight to protect it?

* * *

Guang-hong is marked as different from the moment he first comes into the world, his tail practically screaming ‘Look at me, I’m special.’

It’s his biggest regret.

Until now. They’d only swum up the coast because he’d wanted to see the tuna shoals, and now Liang is suffering for it. The Pacific white-sided dolphin has been his friend for years, they’ve done everything together… And then Liang got caught.

A dolphin can hold its breath for twenty minutes if absolutely necessary – this is something Guang-hong knows well, even if he doesn’t need air to breathe – and Liang has already been underwater for four, having caught sight of his meal only seconds after diving back down.

_Sixteen minutes._

Sixteen minutes is all he has.

It takes only seconds to weave his way through the netting with his powerful tail. The ropes cut at his hands, but he ignores the pain.

 _Fifteen minutes._ The knots slip through his fingers, and Guang-hong scowls in frustration.

 _Fourteen minutes._ A strong current tears the ropes from his grip, hurling him backwards, and in his scrabble to reach Liang, he finds himself caught in a second net.

 _Thirteen minutes._ Guang-hong wails, stretching frantically, but the tips of his fingers can barely brush Liang’s left flank. _No._

 _Twelve minutes._ Liang is thrashing in distress.

 _Eleven._ Crying underwater is such a strange thing. Instead of tears rolling down his cheeks, Guang-hong’s tears disperse into the ocean - his pain literally becomes just another drop.

 _Ten._ He's outright sobbing as he winds himself tighter into the nets, still reaching out for his friend.

 _Nine._ It’s his fault.

 _Eight._ Why did he ever want to come here?

 _Seven._ There’s a heavy whooshing noise as something heavy hits the water above them, and then the feeling of movement distorting the currents.

 _Six._ The water next to him fluctuates, and a hand brushes along his tail. Guang-hong jerks his head around and comes face-to-face with a human - tanned skin, shoulder-length hair and brown eyes that widen in shock. One hand is wrapped around the ropes that bind him, the other holds a knife.

 _Five._ Guang-hong throws caution to the wind, pushing at the human’s chest. _Not me,_ he thinks, _help Liang._ The human is still frozen in shock, and Guang-hong has to fight to turn his head so he can see the weakening dolphin. He can see the moment that the human realizes what is going on.

 _Four._ The human lets go of the ropes, and swims over to where Liang is restrained. He strokes a gentle hand down Liang’s back, and then wraps a hand over the dolphin’s head, focusing on cutting the ropes beneath him first.

 _Three._ The blade saws through the netting quicker than any clam shell could, a strong wrist propelling it onwards. Liang stills himself, understanding what is happening.

 _Two._ More than half the ropes are swaying in the rush of the water now.

 _One._ The human cuts the last rope, and fumbles the knife into his belt, shouldering under Liang’s flipper and pushing up toward the surface.

For the next few minutes, Guang-hong waits alone and anxious in the half-dark waters, twisting as best he can until his eyes lock onto the dark shapes near the surface that can only be his friend and the human boy. His hands are shaking, his dorsal fins rippling. And then the sounds of Liang whistling and clicking reaches his ears, distorted as it is by the water. His whole body sags in relief.

There’s another flurry of bubbles as the human swims back down towards him (Guang-hong thanks the currents that Liang knows to stay clear of the nets), evidently set on freeing him too. What a strange human indeed.

In mere minutes, Guang-hong is free too, sculling backwards out of the nets. The human makes a strange facial expression - he blinks, but with only one eye. How odd.

And then he kicks upwards towards the surface, leaving Guang-hong behind with Liang, who noses at him and somersaults in the currents.

What just happened?

He floats there, suspended in a haze until Liang prods him again. He runs a hand down Liang’s snout, curving down to rub his chin before sighing. A flick of his shimmering tail later and he’s surfing a current back down south Liang at his side.

* * *

The setting sun paints the waters on horizon a scorching scarlet, as if the ocean itself were set on fire. Leo sighs, tipping his head back to swig at his now lukewarm beer. What an unexpected day.

He’d swum down to check on the tuna nets - nets that were set to be dismantled later in the week - and seen two shadows. He certainly hadn’t expected to see a boy with a tail of scales that shimmered every color of the rainbow and large brown eyes.

Leo frowns. The hands that pushed him away, toward the actual dolphin had been torn up with rope burns; and those huge doe-like eyes had been filled with fear. There’s no possibility of a hallucination, and the emotion had been far too real to have been an act… which leaves only one possibility.

The waves that lap ever-closer to his bare toes churn up white foam. Seventy percent of the world covered in water… well. Leo smiles. The ocean never ceases to surprise him.

**Author's Note:**

> Liang is Chinese for 'bright one'. It's both homage to the nature of dolphins, and follwing the trend.  
> I'm not saying that I made Guang-hong's tail like a rainbow because his name means 'Light Rainbow', but I'm not saying I didn't either.


End file.
